The In-Flight Food Shakedown

A nationally recognized reporter, writer, and consumer advocate, Ed Perkins focuses on how travelers can find the best deals and avoid scams.

He is the author of "Online Travel" (2000) and "Business Travel: When It's Your Money" (2004), the first step-by-step guide specifically written for small business and self-employed professional travelers. He was also the co-author of the annual "Best Travel Deals" series from Consumers Union.

Perkins' advice for business travelers is featured on MyBusinessTravel.com, a website devoted to helping small business and self-employed professional travelers find the best value for their travel dollars.

Perkins was founding editor of Consumer Reports Travel Letter, one of the country's most influential travel publications, from which he retired in 1998. He has also written for Business Traveller magazine (London).

Perkins' travel expertise has led to frequent television appearances, including ABC's "Good Morning America" and "This Week with David Brinkley," "The CBS Evening News with Dan Rather," CNN, and numerous local TV and radio stations.

Before editing Consumer Reports Travel Letter, Perkins spent 25 years in travel research and consulting with assignments ranging from national tourism development strategies to the design of computer-based tourism models.

Born in Evanston, Illinois, Perkins lives in Ashland, Oregon with his wife.

“Don’t get ripped off by in-flight food prices,” warns a headline on a release from the U.K.’s Travelsupermarket.com research firm. This report cites markups of more than 1,000 percent on a bottle of still water on Aer Lingus, flapjacks on Flybe, and 7 Up on Ryanair. And lots of other items ranged between 500 percent and 1,000 percent higher than they would cost on in the store. The average markup on hot drinks is 2,355 percent, says Travelsupermarket.com, and the average markup on soft drinks is 370 percent.

My old marketing professor would sneer at those numbers. According to the classic retail method of accounting, markup is always calculated as a percent of the final selling price, not a price over the cost. So a reported 1,000 percent markup would really amount to a 91 percent markup. Still, that’s a really big markup. Although the survey involved mainly European airlines, the pattern is likely to be the same everywhere.

Travelsupermarket.com recommends schlepping your own food from home—remembering the security liquid limits—or buying at the airport post-security. You get the message: Airline onboard prices can be ripoffs. But you already knew that, didn’t you?